Apocalypse World: Uni City Chapter 2a

[Here’s the next chapter of my Apocalypse World game. I got a little behind, so this is only the first half. Expect Scrib and October’s section tomorrow night. Hope you enjoy!]

DICE

Dice and two of her Fixies pedal in circles around Scrib, Peppering, and their collective prisoner, Exit. Peppering pushes Exit with the end of her bat, “Keep it moving, Tower slut.”

Exit narrows her eyes over her shoulder at her. Dice wonders if anyone picks up on the irony of a prostitute calling someone a slut. Maybe Scrib does, since he fishes a worn leather note pad out of his pouches and starts jotting down something or other. Then he trots up to walk shoulder to shoulder with Exit.

He interviews her about crap Dice mostly doesn’t care about, mostly about living in the Towers. She was much more concerned about what Mr. Millions was going to say once she showed up with a prisoner.

She had to keep wondering when they got to Coulburn Hall. It was Dice and the Fixie’s job to protect Mr. Millions and Uni City, but the main entrance was suspiciously unguarded.

Dice takes her trusty crowbar out of its thong on her bike and stows her bike in the rack by the steps. Juck’s bike was still in the rack. She already had to maim Partridge today, looks like she’d have to teach another Fixie a lesson about following orders.

“Stay guard here,” Dice says to the other two Fixies that followed them. “Scrib, let’s take your bodyguard and our new buddy here up to Mr. Millions.”

The three of them climb the stone staircase but Dice silently stops them at the end of it. She hears something from the jail cell around the corner. It should be empty, but Dice can definitely hear Juck’s whimpers echoing from inside.

Dice pads to the doorway. It used to be a bathroom, but someone welded heavy bars over the door long before Dice was born. The padlock was open and she pushed the door open with the hook of her crowbar. Dice’s jaw about dropped off her head when she saw what was going on inside. Scrib, Peppering, and Exit leaned in behind her to peak inside.

Fuse, Mr. Million’s number two guy, the one that kept all lists of who owed what in Uni City, and who often kept Mr. Millions from losing his temper and killing anyone that said “no” to him. That guy that balanced the balances of power in the city had Juck bent over a cot and was going to town on him.

She couldn’t blame him, Juck was pretty hot, she would have wagered Juck more of a top though.

Dice might have just stepped back and let them finish up in private. Sure, she’d have to kick the shit out of Juck later for leaving his post, but she didn’t care who her gang fucked. Fuse’s wife might not feel the same way, but that wasn’t Dice’s business. Dice was prepared to back away and do just that, but Exit had to open her mouth.

“Which one is Mr. Millions?”

Fuse and Juck froze and looked up at them like a squirrel-fly right before you shot it. That fear in Fuse’s eye flipped to panic just as quick. Dice didn’t like panic, it often led to trouble. This was no exception.

Fuse pulled out of Juck and grabbed a handgun. Where’d that come from?

He shouted something incomprehensible, was it about his wife or maybe Mr. Millions?

(Read a charged situation: 4+1=miss)

Either way, Dice’s instincts take over. She leaps forward, covering almost half the distance between them and screams at him to lose the gun.

(Trade harm for harm)

He shoots, twice. One hits the brick wall past the swinging barred door, the other hits Dice in the shoulder.

The force of the bullet turns Dice’s entire body, but not before she expertly lobs her crowbar into the air.

Juck, having seen this move before, ducks under the cot. Fuse isn’t so lucky. The straight end of the crowbar spins through the air and finds something soft and squishy to bury itself in. Namely Fuse’s eyeball and the brains behind it.

After the thud of Fuse’s body hitting the concrete floor there is a silence that seems to last forever. Everyone is understandably shocked. ‘Cept Fuse, because he’s quite dead.

Dice and Juck blink out it the first. Their eyes look at the iron hook sticking out of Fuse’s face even as he bubbles out blood from his last breaths. Then their eyes roll toward the gun still smoking in his hand in unison. Then they look at each other.

(Seize the gun by force: 2+2=miss)

Dice dives for the gun and pries it, literally, out of Fuses cold, dead hand. Well, actually his hand was still pretty warm. She rolls over and points the gun at Juck, but he hasn’t moved from under the cot a few feet away from her.

Dice slowly gets up with the gun trained on Juck.

“What the hell just happened?” Scrib says from behind them.

“This was the one thing I loved. This was the one secret that kept me going,” Juck said. He said it with the cold, even tone of someone looking over a edge of a roof. Dice starts walking toward the door with the gun pointed at Juck, still nude on his stomach.

(Announce future badness)

“I’ve spent my life following orders and being kicked down. Fuse was the only one that gave a shit about what I felt. You took that from me. The one piece of light in this piece of shit life.”

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to start fucking you in the ass now, Juck,” Dice says before slamming the door shut and clicking the padlock closed.

“I’m going to kill everything you love,” Juck says from the now locked cell.

Dice puts the gun into a pouch that hangs from her hip and inspects her shoulder. There’s a tiny hole in her plastic body armor where she got hit. She’ll have a bruise, but nothing serious.

The two Fixies stare up at her with wide eyes from the ground. She nods slightly and they go back to their circuit around Coulburn Hall’s perimeter.

They hear the gunshots and start running. Millions sprints up the stairs despite his impressive bulk and is out of breath by the time he reaches Dice, Scrib, Peppering, and the stranger.

Mr. Sunset only briskly ascends the stairs. He calmly watches as Millions screams at Dice. With a few quick darts of his eyes, Sunset sees a naked Juck locked up with a dead Fuse, with Dice’s crowbar sticking out his head.

“I don’t give a shit if he shot you, you fucking killed the heir to the city and you’re going to get your ass in that cell,” Millions was screaming.

Sunset takes one look at Juck’s face within the cell and realizes what a bad idea that would be. He considers the situation for a moment and wonders what Uni City would be like if Dice was no longer in charge of its protection.

(Seduce or manipulate 6+2=hit)

“Millions. Your cell is full. I offer to take Dice into custody at the library in your stead, until you can determine what should be done with her.”

Millions takes a step closer to Sunset. “You think I can’t deal with my problems on my own?” Millions punctuates his statement with a finger in Sunset’s chest.

Sunset looks down at the intruding finger. His knuckles go white on his walking stick. He grits his teeth for a exactly three seconds before he takes a deep breath and relaxes.

“No, Millions. That’s not what I’m saying. You obviously have more important matters to consider,” Sunset gestures to Exit, “Consider it a personal favor. I’m asking your permission to aid you in dealing with Dice.”

Millions puts his arm down and considers this. Sunset knows that kowtowing is the easiest way to deal with Millions.

“Fine,” he says finally. “You deal with this and I’ll work on the actual important shit.”